Mooretown rancheria of maidu indians of california proposes a restoration planning and monitoring project for the 4,000-acre tribal cultural landscape at feather falls in the sierra nevada foothills

The U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service awarded Mooretown Rancheria $392,300 under the Tribal Wildlife Grants program (CFDA 15.639) on September 1, 2025, for a restoration planning and monitoring project spanning through August 31, 2027. The project will develop and implement a long-term habitat restoration and monitoring program across a 4,000-acre tribal cultural landscape at Feather Falls in the Sierra Nevada foothills that was severely impacted by the 2020 North Complex Fire. Key deliverables include identification of landscape management units and recovery objectives, establishment of baseline conditions, development of restoration goals informed by traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), and implementation of adaptive management strategies that prioritize habitat connectivity, pollinator support, and culturally important plant species.

The project will produce specific monitoring protocols and management frameworks for wildlife species at-risk or protected under the Endangered Species Act, with particular focus on fire-dependent flowering plants benefiting monarch butterflies and bees, woodpecker habitat maintenance using dead snags, owl habitat creation, and eagle nesting management. Additionally, the tribe will develop mapping, planning, monitoring, and database-management capabilities and expertise that will support future restoration projects across tribal lands in the Sierra Nevada region and beyond, thereby building organizational capacity for long-term tribal stewardship and environmental conservation initiatives.

The project purpose is to restore habitat in an area that was severely impacted by the 2020 north complex fire, with a goal of improving connectivity and supporting pollinators and culturally important plants using long-term monitoring and post-fire adaptive management. Project objectives and expected outcomes include:identify landscape management units and associated recovery objectives, establish baseline conditions as a foundation for tribal management, identify specific restoration goals that benefit wildlife and are informed by traditional ecological knowledge, and build our capacity to take on restoration projects throughout our aboriginal lands and beyond. The species in this area listed by USFWS as at-risk, threatened or endangered and their habitat needs will be coupled with the current postfire conditions, potential future conditions and traditional ecological knowledge of the area to maximize restoration success. For example, identifying, monitoring and managing the fire-dependent flowering plant species for bees and monarchs and traditional tuber foods will be a desired outcome monitored in specific management areas. Having the monitoring inform forest health management activities such as leaving some areas with dead snags for woodpeckers (important for regalia and ceremony), creating and maintaining some open areas near forest patches for owls and identifying and monitoring nesting eagles (which have alwaysbeen protected and never hunted by the maidu) will result in a long-term monitoring program for tribal stewardship in this area. The capacity that the tribe gains in implementing this project will help inform our restoration projects throughout the sierra, because we will have mapping, planning, monitoring, and database-management skills, as well as TEK-specific support to be able to model the best practices for future projects in the surrounding areas.